I Became a Tentacle Monster Blooming in the Academy Garden 386

## Chapter 386 – Unintentional Intent (6)

The ripple effect of the news about the attack on the Barmhausen delegation wasn’t limited to the Groden Royal Family.

“The scent?”

“It’s been erased, Your Majesty. It might be a coincidence, but it seems they used potent herbs to mask the scent… If they did this knowing about us, it was the work of a professional.”

“I knew it… There was a scent…”

Following the Groden Public Security Department’s visit, which turned Floraise upside down…

Inside the room, in response to the sniffing Suin Henia’s question, Vivian subtly flinched and answered.

“Can you smell it, Your Majesty?”

“Well… not exactly… I just mean… I sense something strange.”

It seemed like the bolt from the blue struck the very next day after the incident.

At first, they thought it would end with some crazy person breaking a window, but…

While being caught up in an unexpected accident was one thing, Floraise was temporarily shut down due to the Public Security Department’s policy.

The voice of Lanié, facing the familiar investigator with a cynical expression who arrived the very next day, was as loud as if it would pierce the sky.

“What do you mean? Shut down?
Investigator! What did we do wrong!?”

“This is a crime scene.
We have a duty to preserve the evidence and the scene.
Especially in the case of an attack on a state guest.”

Despite seeing Deborah, whom she hadn’t seen in a while, standing with her subordinates, the other investigators…

Perhaps because the memory of being beaten up at the Proden family’s social gathering was so strong, Lanié was naturally not happy to see her. She pretended to be innocent as much as possible, acting like a kind commoner.

“We’re victims too!! Victims!!
We have to make a living!!
Aigoo!! The government is catching commoners!!
Come to think of it… weren’t you here yesterday?”

“…If you interfere any further, I’ll consider it obstruction of justice.”

Deborah’s steely gaze wavered slightly at the question, as Lanié squinted her eyes as if suddenly remembering something.

She happened to have visited Floraise the day before the incident occurred.

When she passed by the room of the handsome bull-man, she happened to make eye contact with him.

That was why she could change her clothes and act as an investigator as soon as the incident occurred.

“Right!? The person wearing a cloak who came out of Wonang’s room!!
Heeet!? You? Could it be that you’re having an affair with our bull…!! … Mmph!!”

Lanié, who seemed to have solidified her conviction, grinned.

It was none other than Vivian who stopped Lanié, who was about to declare checkmate.

“Don’t interfere with the investigation and just stay out of the way.
I know you like renting our place, but…
I’d appreciate it if you could minimize the disruption to our future business?”

“If you cooperate, we’ll try to finish as quickly as possible.”

It wasn’t like they had only met once or twice.

Moreover, they had briefly joined forces when facing Parlocchino as an enemy, and they were quick-witted enough to have a grasp of each other’s personalities.

They recognized each other as lustful females who had been captured by the bull’s cock in their house, but also as cold-blooded investigators who could become obstacles to the organization in the future.

And also as a cartel boss from a noble family who had a criminal record as a current offender and many other unsettling secrets that she had faked her disappearance, so it would be quite difficult if the investigator openly investigated her.

It was as if they had already made a mutual assured destruction pact, where they would take each other down as soon as they caught something on each other.

“How long?”

“A week.”

“How about four days?”

“No, it’s a week.
If things go quickly, we might be able to finish in six days.”

“Haa… Alright.”

Between Vivian and Deborah, who already knew each other well but pretended not to, there was a strange tension, as if sparks were flying.

‘If Deborah is willing to turn a blind eye to this extent?
We can show that much sincerity as well.
I should get her a coupon later.’

Still, Deborah seemed to have taken a liking to the bull-man, and seeing her trying to provide as much convenience as possible without violating her principles, Vivian seemed somewhat relieved.

It seemed that the two, who had a rough idea of ​​what areas they could and could not concede, were concluding an implicit deal without crossing each other’s minimum bottom line.

“Then what about us…?”

“There’s nothing we can do.
Get some popcorn, Lanié.”

“That’s not what I mean…!!
Aren’t you going to do any tracking or anything?”

“Not for now.
We can decide then if anything else comes up.”

“Eeeeek!! I’m sure it’s that guy…!!
I’m going to catch him and kick his butt!!”

Anyway, although the Public Security Department led by Deborah was already chasing the culprit of this incident, they also wanted to see the face of the culprit who had wreaked havoc in their business.

Lanié also seemed to have a strange feeling pricking her brain, and she was appealing to Vivian that the culprit of this incident might be the same person as the Mademoiselle incident.

After sending back the elves who were not yet familiar with the capital and leading only the Suin Henias, Vivian was starting a death chase with an uneasy expression, but progress was slower than expected.

“The evangelism has been suspended…
This is the work of heretics!
Prepare for the Holy War now!”

“Waaaaah!!”

Even the kind World Tree elves, who had recently joined with only enthusiasm and knew nothing, and were not yet tainted by the human world, were grinding their teeth.

“Calm down. We can’t get backstabbed again.
Keep a thorough watch, just in case.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!!”

Vivian, who was assigning tasks to those Henias, quietly clicked her tongue as soon as the last Henia received the order and turned around.

‘Who are those guys…?
They’re not just targeting the Barmhausen delegation.’

There was a reason why Vivian was so sure.

In fact, the delegation’s visit to Floraise was an accidental plan.

Just like Laratina had done before, Vivian was also trying to build friendly relations with the nobles to some extent, and some of them had good results.

In the process of recruiting them, she provided a lot of services to someone involved in coordinating the delegation’s schedule, and in return, she received a promise to recommend visiting Floraise during their break.

‘They said they would bring them once at the right time.
They never said when.
And there’s only one person who knows that.’

And there was another reason why that couldn’t be seen as a problem.

‘If they came to rob the delegation, they would have prepared for the machinery.
What kind of stupid guys would only prepare for the Suins without that?
It’s clear that they came in with the intention of feeding us.’

Although they had been running rampant in the back alleys, they had certainly been acting with good secrecy.

Rather than knowing that they were being attacked by Suins, most people saw them as monsters that suddenly appeared.

Seeing that they knew that the main force and action unit, the Henias, were Suins and tried to erase the scent, they had to consider that the other party already knew a lot about them.

‘I thought only the Slaughtering Witch and the Madwoman were known externally.
Did more information leak out? Or… betrayal?’

Vivian, walking down the hallway with an uneasy look, was weighing the many possibilities that came to her mind.

‘Why is Chaoxing bothering us?
If I can think of anything… is it because we’re a competitor to Hwawolru…?’

Since she couldn’t see any reason for Chaoxing’s opponent to bother them.

Vivian let out a low sigh and opened the secret iron door hidden in the basement of Floraise.

“I think you need to step in.
Can you find anything, even a trace?”

And beyond the iron door of the basement, the wriggling tentacles were squirming among themselves as if they understood, and gently stroking Vivian’s head as she approached them.

.
.
.

With that background, I, who had accepted her earnest gaze after a long time, was energized and entering into full-scale investigation mode in order to bring her the necessary information, just like last time.

The problem was that even I didn’t seem to be of much help this time.

‘How am I supposed to find this…?’

Unlike Laratina, who had informants scattered everywhere because she persuaded and used many people.

Since there was no information except that they were someone from Chaoxing, it became ambiguous even who to chase.

‘It would be easier to find Mr. Kim in Seoul than this.’

Rather, there were plenty of people who were chattering about the interesting conspiracy that suddenly broke out, but no one was providing proper information.

So, even the tentacles of the Parasites were not filtering out any plausible information.

So, at one point, I wondered if I should find all the people from Chaoxing and conduct a close investigation one by one.

[Long time no see?]

“Carla has been busy because of the delegation’s schedule.
She was selected as the representative of the second year of the Engineering Department.
How have you been?”

[I’m doing great, no need to ask.
Did you come to see our kids?]

Perhaps this was what it meant to say that the darkest place is under the lamp.

The tentacles, looking at Yui Kazunomiya, a girl from Chaoxing who was stepping in wearing a neat academy uniform, wriggled with joy and then instinctively stopped.

[Come to think of it, isn’t Yui from Chaoxing too?]

“That’s… right? Why do you ask?”

[There was an incident this time.
You know about it, right?]

“I know…
But why…”

[I was wondering if you knew anything?]

“I don’t know much about political issues…
I think it’s probably a unilateral decision by one of the families…”

[For example? Come to think of it, aren’t the nobles there all the same?]

“It’s similar to Groden, but you can think of it as having more branches.
Groden is usually divided into knights or mages.
Carla told me that the nobles of Barmhausen are even simpler.
Rather, the status of nobility is only honorary, and whether you are a successful engineer or not is the indicator that divides your status.
But unlike those two countries, the families of Chaoxing are divided into many different lines in many ways.”

“I’ve never experienced it myself, but the Kazunomiya family was in the civil service line.
I was too young to understand it directly.”

Yui continued to explain, setting up the examination tools she had brought.

She was reminiscing about her hometown for the first time in a while in response to my question, and was giving a bitter smile as if recalling memories with a longing look.

The past when she relied on her family was by no means happy.

Knowing that, I quickly turned the topic to an explanation of the families of Chaoxing.